Stephen Wooler CB

Barrister

Stephen Wooler is a qualified barrister and a Bencher of Gray’s Inn whose career combines lengthy experience of handling high profile operational casework with advisory, policy, management and leadership roles. Following practice at the common law Bar, he joined the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions in 1973, quickly rising to become Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions in 1982 – the youngest such appointment.

He was seconded to the Law Officers’ Department in 1983 and was instrumental in establishing first the Crown Prosecution Service and then the Serious Fraud Office. In 1987 he became Chief Crown Prosecutor in London before a returning to the Law Officers’ Department as Deputy Legal Secretary where he served until 1999 when he became HM Chief Inspector of the Crown Prosecution Service. He was made a Companion of the Order of the Bath in the Queen’s Birthday Honours 2005. Since retirement from the civil service in 2010, he has undertaken consultancy work in relation to criminal justice, notably an independent review of the RSPCA prosecution functions and a review of the Attorney General’s chambers for the Isle of Man government. He served as an Assistant Boundary Commissioner for England for the 2013 Boundaries Review and as a member of the Lord Chancellor’s Advisory Committee for Thames Valley (2012 -2019) and a member of the Advisory Board to the Institute of Criminal Law at University College London. He has also held positions in regulatory and charitable organisations.